Underneath The Shimmering Stars
by uniqueinkblots
Summary: Patricia and Eddie sneak out after curfew and everyone thinks they're still inside, Victor included. After a wonderful little outdoors date, they discover that they're locked out and stranded without a way of entering. So what do they do? Keep calm and carry on. As in...camp outside underneath the stars and cuddle till the end of time. Peddie Oneshot.


**A/N: **This is based on a prompt I received for NADM but the request was far too detailed and thorough to cram into a quick drabble. I found the idea sweet and deserving of its own space, so here's a oneshot!

* * *

_Knock Knock Knock._

"I'm coming, one second!" Patricia hollered. She hopped off her bed and marched to her bedroom door, wrenching it open with an exasperated sigh when she saw who was on the other side. "You don't need to break the door down, Sweet," she grumbled, actively working to stop a silly grin from spreading across her face.

"It's not my fault you're deaf, _Williamson," _Eddie bantered back cheerfully, dropping onto Mara's bed without a second thought.

"Eddie!" Patricia admonished.

"There's all kinds of stuff on _your _bed," Eddie protested. "And besides, me and Mara are good buddies. We work on the paper together. I guarantee she'd be cool with it."

"Mara and I," Patricia corrected with a snort. "Some journalist you are," she teased. Eddie rolled his eyes but didn't offer a retort. Instead, he scooted further onto Mara's bed and leaned against the wall, resting his head back and closing his eyes. "Well? I'm waiting!" Patricia tapped her foot impatiently, hand on hip, face stern. "I'm sure you came here for a reason."

Eddie lazily cracked one eye open before sitting up straight and smiling devilishly. "Of course I did," he confirmed.

"Right. Because it's not like you came here to spend time with your girlfriend or anything," Patricia deadpanned.

"Nahhh," Eddie jokingly waved a dismissive hand in the air and Patricia raised an eyebrow, before sitting beside him and punching his arm.

"Tell me!"

"If you must know, I came here because I've been craving a little adventure."

Patricia leaned back, skeptical. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

"Come on...please?" Eddie reached for Patricia's hand and grasped it tight in his own as if somehow, that might change her mind. "You were going to come to my room for a sleepover anyways," he reminded her. "This will just be more fun."

Patricia bit her lip thoughtfully and shrugged. Sleeping over in Eddie's room _had _been the plan. Fabian had offered to clear out for the night and explore the attic with Nina. Eddie had joked about how "exploring the attic" was actually code for making out in a dark corner with Nina. This earned a glare from Fabian and an _I can't believe we're friends _look. Patricia, on the other hand, had hurriedly assured Fabian that no shenanigans would be taking place. She just wanted to spend time with Eddie past ten at night. But Fabian had insisted on giving them space and after a some reluctance ("I'm so bad at covering for people, Patricia!") Mara had agreed to help Patricia get past Victor._  
_

"Fine. We'll go on an _adventure," _she said a little distastefully. "We'll sneak out before lights out, all right?"

"Yes!" Eddie cheered. "I knew you were bad enough," he joked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively before attempting to lean in for a kiss.

Patricia pushed his face aside and got up, letting Eddie fall sideways onto Mara's bed with an indignant little groan.

She giggled.

* * *

"Where's Ms. Williamson?" Victor asked suspiciously, arms firmly crossed his chest, expression grim. Mara was internally freaking out. Victor didn't usually check each room individually! He stood at the foot of the stairwell and simply blabbered about hearing a pin drop. Of all nights to randomly check rooms! She bit her lip, mind racing.

"She's in the closest!" Mara squealed, nervous and under pressure. She was comically bad at covering for people, yet somehow, people kept giving her the job. She didn't understand why.

"What?" Victor barked, glancing at the tiny little closet. He inched closer, growing angrier by the second. "And why would she be in there?"

"Because you startled us!" Mara exclaimed. "She _was _changing here, just a moment ago, but then you burst in..." Mara trailed off before see in Victor's expression change from one of fury to one of discomfort. Encouraged and confident, she continued. "She darted for the closet straight away and lucky she made it time! That could have been _quite _awkward, don't you think? We would have had a situation on our hands. An inappropriate one at that. Next time, you should knock." Mara glanced up at Victor, wide eyed and innocent.

"Yes, well..." Victor coughed and cleared his throat, apparently at a loss for words. "My apologies," he finally muttered, before turning around and escaping the room as fast as possible.

Mara sighed in relief and beamed proudly. That had actually gone remarkably well.

Eddie and Patricia were free to have their little sleepover and as soon as Fabian got the chance to leave the room, even he would get to spend some quality time with Nina. Everything was going according to the plan.

Little did Mara know that Eddie and Patricia had decided to stray from the plan. They wouldn't be in Eddie's room, they would be _outside._

And little did Victor know that two students were not only out of bed, but out of Anubis House all together. If he had, maybe he wouldn't have locked the front door.

* * *

"Remember the time we had dinner in the treehouse?" Eddie fondly remembered as they trekked through the school grounds hand in hand.

"That was our first anniversary, _of course _I remember!" Patricia said as though Eddie was stupid. That wasn't a night she was about to forget. She had never been in a relationship before, and to celebrate _one year _of indulging in that special experience...well. Let's just say she wouldn't forget their first anniversary as long as she lived, even though she would _never _admit to that mushy sentiment out loud.

"Want to go there?" Eddie asked hopefully. "We haven't been there all semester and that's kind of our place."

"The treehouse is on school grounds. It's not ours. It belongs to everyone."

"You are such a buzzkill," Eddie groaned. "For once in your life, just take it easy and enjoy the moment! I'm trying to be romantic here!"

"_Enjoy the moment?" _

Eddie glared and Patricia hid her giggles behind her hand.

"What' so funny? I'm trying to be sincere, here. Most girls _love _when guys get emotional. Figures you'd be different."

Patricia laughed harder because after all, that's exactly _why _she was laughing. She was used to her easy, playful relationship with Eddie. They bantered, they argued, they fought. They had done so as enemies, as friends, _and _as boyfriend and girlfriend. It was the way of their world. So whenever Eddie explored his softer side, Patricia always found it kind of hilarious. She couldn't help it.

She sobered though and shot Eddie a knowing look. "You like _because _I'm different," she pointed.

"Love," Eddie corrected, smiling softy at her. His heart eyed expression immediately disappeared when Patricia dissolved into another fit of laughter. "Patricia!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she said, gasping for breath in between her giggles. "I love you too," she assured, still smirking.

"I don't see what's so funny," Eddie grumbled.

By now they had reached the treehouse. Eddie abandoned his complaining and immediately climbed to the top before offering Patricia a hand and helping her up.

"You're very chivalrous tonight," Patricia attempted. "It's very romantic."

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Nice try," he commented. "But thanks."

Patricia nodded and scooted closer until there was literally no space between them. She rested her head on Eddie's shoulder and they dangled their feet out of the treehouse, holding onto each other tightly, content and quiet.

They sat there for about an hour before gradually moving further into the treehouse. Sitting cross-legged, they chatted about anything and everything. They weren't saying anything special but there was something special about sneaking out at night and just...hanging out.

"We should head back," Eddie said finally. "It's nearly midnight."

"That's not late at all!" Patricia said. "What happened? Pretty boy needs his beauty rest?"

Eddie shrugged. "I'm not ashamed. Takes effort to look this hot."

"You're so full of yourself."

"You love me though."

"Like you."

"Love me!"

"...yeah, you're right."

Because honestly, Patricia had no right to deny what was clearly fact.

* * *

They walked through the woods and back towards Anubis House, careful to not trip on fallen branches and dead tree stumps. It was only about a ten minute walk, but the air had grown cold and crisp. It was _November _after all.

"Give me your jacket," Patricia demanded, five minutes through their walk.

"You have a sweater. And we're halfway there," Eddie said in disbelief.

"Give me your jacket!"

The stubbornness was clear and Eddie rolled his eyes, obediently shrugging out of his jacket. "_Here," _he placed it over her shoulders and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Warm now?"

"Yup!" Patricia said cheerfully.

"Well, I'm freezing."

"Oh well."

"Maybe you don't love me after all," Eddie joked.

"I do," Patricia said seriously, surprisingly not teasing and joking around the fact for the first time all evening.

Eddie smiled softly and silently guided Patricia up the Anubis House steps. They had arrived. He twisted the door knob and frowned when nothing happened.

"...Maybe I don't," Patricia said, half teasingly, half seriously. "Of _course, _Victor locks the door at night. What were we _thinking?"_

After gently assuring Patricia that it wasn't a big deal, Eddie stood on the steps deep in thought. He was motionless for only a moment before he strolled over to one of the first floor windows and attempted to jerk it open.

"Locked," he hissed under his breath.

Getting a sense of Eddie's plan, Patricia joined him. Together, they made a round of the house, trying to open every single window on the bottom floor. Not a single one opened.

"We can text Fabian and Nina. They're probably still awake, scouting the attic," Patricia suggested.

"I told you. That was code for getting it on."

"Knowing them, it probably wasn't," Patricia snickered, reaching into her sweater pocket to pull her cellphone out of her pocket. Her hand came away empty. "Oh no," she mumbled. She had forgotten her phone in her dorm room. "You don't happen to have your phone do you?"

Eddie froze, his face full of dismay and regret. Patricia sighed and shook her head knowingly. She had a feeling he wouldn't.

"Well. Looks like we're stuck here," she announced to no one in particular.

"_Stuck _is a negative word and I resent that. When you're with Eddie Sweet, you're never _stuck_! We had scheduled a sleepover, had we not? Let's do it!" Eddie grinned and Patricia just stared at him, unfazed and unimpressed with his little pep talk. "I'm _serious," _Eddie said.

He snatched his coat from around Patricia's shoulders and laid it on the ground right in front of Anubis House. He laid on top of it and beckoned for Patricia to join him. She stared at the coat unwillingly before moving towards it and laying beside it. Eddie immediately wrapped her in his arm, holding her close for warmth. They were both thankfully wearing heavy sweatshirts, and combined with the warm embrace, they were going to be okay.

"Now what?" Patricia whispered.

"We lay here and sleep. In the morning, early riser Fabian is bound to open the door to grab the paper and that's when we'll get inside. We won't even get in trouble."

"And until then?"

"We sleep." Eddie said it as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

"I'm not sleepy," Patricia complained.

"You are so difficult," Eddie huffed. "_Fine, _we look at the stars."

Patricia looked up at the inky black sky. The darkness above was accented with glittering, twinkling, bright stars, both white and gold. "It is kind of pretty," she admitted.

"It's the most awesome thing," Eddie whispered back. "I'm from a city. You can't see a single star back home. This is better than a freaking _planetarium," _he enthused.

"You are so dorky," Patricia mumbled, snuggling closer.

"You love it."

"Yeah, I really do."

* * *

Patricia wasn't sure what time she fell asleep, but she was certainly aware when she woke up. Something was prodding her arm. Repeatedly. "Get off!" she groaned sleepily, throwing an arm across her face to block the bright sun from flashing in her face.

"Patricia! Eddie! Wake up!"

Suddenly remembering the situation, Patricia's eyes flew open and she sat up straight, untangling herself from Eddie's arms. Noticing the loss of contact, Eddie blinked awake and sat up as well.

"What are you two _doing?" _Fabian asked. He was eyeing them as though they were insane. "Did you sleep here last night? You could have frozen to death! Or worse, gotten in trouble!"

Eddie yawned in exhaustion. "Not sure your priorities are in order, buddy," he mumbled sleepily.

Fabian grinned then, relieved to see his friends safe and sound. "Whatever," he said. "Come on. It's a Saturday morning so we have no classes to worry about. Let's get you two love birds back to your respective beds."

"We're the love birds?" Eddie scoffed, rising to his feet and instinctively offering Patricia a hand. "As though you didn't have a good night too."

"Eddie! For the last time...exploring the attic literally means exploring the attic! It doesn't mean anything else!"

"Mmhm. Whatever you say, dude. Whatever you say."

* * *

**A/N: **Yay all done! I enjoyed writing this so I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this. I really like the idea of Eddie and Patricia both being soft and vulnerable on the inside but determined to maintain their cool exterior. Well...in this particular story, Patricia is determined to remain calm but Eddie tries to be mushy and she kind of laughs in his face. But they're in love, so it's totally fine and he doesn't mind! Please review :)


End file.
